T.C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ
YABANCI DİLLER EĞİTİMİ ANA BİLİM DALI İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETMENLİĞİ BİLİM DALI
THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON READING
DEVELOPMENT
YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ
DANIŞMAN
YRD. DOÇ. DR. HASAN ÇAKIR
HAZIRLAYAN BAYRAM KARA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those who have helped and contributed to the preparation of my thesis.
First and foremost, I am especially indebted to my advisor Assistant Professor Dr. Hasan Çakır for his guidance and encouragement during the preparation of this study, for sharing his knowledge and expertise, for his invaluable suggestions regarding the content and form of this thesis and for his invaluable support.
I am also grateful to Assistant Professor Dr. Ece Sarıgül, Assistant Professor Dr. Abdulhamit Çakır and Assistant Professor Dr. Abdulkadir Çakır at the ELT programme for making considerable contributions to my graduate studies.
A special thanks to Mete Özdemir for his invaluable support and encouragement to complete my thesis and for his unique assistance with statistical procedures carried out for this dissertation.
My special thanks are also to my best friend Mustafa Dolmacı. He did a lot for my thesis and, most importantly, he has stood by me whenever and wherever I needed throughout my life. I also would like to send my sincere thanks to my friends Özgür Fidan and Metin Deniz.
Many thanks to my students who joined this study.
I wish to express my greatest thanks to my family. Your eternal love and moral support have helped me become the person I am today. I am forever grateful to you
Finally, I would like to dedicate my thesis to my wife, Seda. Without her love, patience, support and beautiful smile the whole process would be unbearable.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of extensive reading on reading development. In particular, the study tries to examine whether reading graded readers extensively have effects on the reading development of EFL students.
30 elementary level EFL students enrolled at the School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) at Selçuk University participated in the study. Two groups consisting of 15 students were formed at the beginning of the study. Groups were named as control group and experimental group. Both of the groups attended traditional language classes of SOFL and one of the groups, experimental group, was additionally involved in an extensive reading programme as an extra-curricular activity. The programme was performed in the second semester of the academic year. Reading comprehension development of the groups was assessed via the reading comprehension tests given as part of the third and fourth mid-term exams set by SOFL.
Results of the study indicate that students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than those in the control group at the end of the extensive reading programme.
Consequently, the data obtained at the end of the study reveal that extensive reading had a positive effect on the reading development of the EFL students.
ÖZET
Bu çalışmanın amacı yaygın okumanın okuma gelişimi üzerindeki etkilerini araştırmaktır. Çalışma özellikle derecelendirilmiş kitapları yaygın biçimde okumanın İngilizce öğrencilerinin okuma gelişimi üzerinde etkileri olup olmadığını incelemeye çalışmaktadır.
Selçuk Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Yüksekokuluna kayıtlı 30 başlangıç düzeyi İngilizce öğrencisi çalışmada yer almıştır. Çalışma öncesinde 15’er öğrenciden oluşan iki grup oluşturulmuştur. Gruplar kontrol deney grubu olarak adlandırılmıştır. Her iki grup Yabancı Diller Yüksek Okulundaki geleneksel dil derslerine devam etmiştir ve gruplardan biri ekstra müfredat aktivitesi olarak yaygın okuma programına dahil edilmiştir. Program akademik yılın ikinci döneminde uygulanmıştır. Grupların okuma gelişimleri Yabancı Diller Yüksek Okulu tarafından düzenlenen üçüncü ve dördüncü ara sınavların bir parçası olarak verilen okuduğunu anlama testleri yoluyla değerlendirilmiştir.
Çalışmanın sonuçları, deney grubunda yer alan öğrencilerin yaygın okuma programı sonunda kontrol grubundakilerden önemli oranlarda daha iyi skorlar elde ettiklerini göstermektedir.
Sonuç olarak, çalışma sonunda elde edilen veriler yaygın okumanın İngilizce öğrencilerinin okuma gelişimi üzerinde olumlu bir etki bıraktığını ortaya çıkarmıştır.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... .İ ABSTRACT...İİ ÖZET ...İİİ TABLE OF CONTENTS ...İV LIST OF TABLES ...Vİİ LIST OF FIGURES ...Vİİİ CHAPTER 1……….……9 INTRODUCTION………...………9 1.1 Introduction………9
1.2. Purpose of the Study………....11
1.3. Delimitations………..……….11
CHAPTER 2... 13
REVIEW OF LITERATURE... 13
2.1. Types of Reading: Intensive and Extensive Reading………...13
2.2. Quotes Related to ER………..15
2.3. Characteristics of Extensive Reading………17
2.4. How Much to Read………21
2.5. Reading Materials………...22
2.5.1. Authentic Materials ……….22
2.5.2. Simplified materials………..24
2.6. Graded Readers………...27
2.6.1 What are graded readers?...27
2.6.3. How to use Graded Readers………29
2.6.4. Some Objections to Graded Readers………..30
CHAPTER 3………..33
METHODS AND PROCEDURES……….….33
3.1. Introduction……….…33
3.2. Research Questions……….…33
3.3. Participants……….….34
3.4. SOFL Proficiency and Placement Test……….…35
3.5. Materials……….….35
3.6. Reading Comprehension Tests……….….38
3.7. Data Analysis……….…..39
3.8. Procedure……….…39
CHAPTER 4 ………...………..43
RESULTS ……….43
4.1. Analyses of Treatment Group Equivalencies………...43
4.2. Reading Comprehension Levels during the Programme………....47
4.3. Reading Comprehension Levels at the end of the Programme………..49
4.4. Amount of Reading and Reading Comprehension………..50
4.5. Summary………..52
CHAPTER 5………..53
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ………..53
5.1 Introduction………..53
5.2. Summary of Findings……….53
5.3. Discussion………...….54
5.4. Recommendations for Future Research………...57
5.5. Pedagogical Implications………...58
REFERENCES………61 APPENDICES……….66 Appendix A………....66 Appendix B………....67 Appendix C………...….68 Appendix D………....70 Appendix E………....72 Appendix F………....73 Appendix G………74 Appendix H………75 Appendix I………...76 Appendix J………...77 Appendix K………78
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the First Mid-term Scores …………44 Table 4.2. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the First Reading Test Scores ……..45 Table 4.3. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the Second Mid-term Scores ………46 Table 4.4. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the Second Reading Test Scores …..46 Table 4.5. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the Third Reading Test Scores …….49 Table 4.6. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the Fourth Reading Test Scores …...50 Table 4.7. Mann Whitney U Analysis for the Fourth Reading Test Scores
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1. Oxford Bookworm Syllabus ………..………..36
Figure 4.1. First Reading Test Mean Scores of the two Groups………..45
Figure 4.2. Second Reading Test Mean Scores of the two Groups……….47
Figure 4.3. Third Reading Test Mean Scores of the two Groups………48
Figure 4.4. Fourth Reading Test Mean Scores of the two Groups………..49
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction
To be proficient in a foreign language requires commanding every aspect of that language; and reading being an important aspect of language has a great significance for the language development.
Reading is a vital skill in any language, so that reading in a foreign language is doubly important for students of that language. The ability to read fast and with full understanding in a foreign language is one of the main criteria of competence in that language. If students can develop the habit of reading widely for enjoyment and interest, they benefit not only by increased confidence and fluency, but may also take with them the life-long habit of reading in a foreign language.
Extensive reading is an approach to language teaching in which learners read a lot of easy material in the new language. They choose their own reading material and read it independently of the teacher. They read for general, overall meaning, and they read for information and enjoyment. They are encouraged to stop reading if the material is not interesting or if it is too difficult. In short it is much like the way people read for pleasure in their native languages.
Extensive Reading (ER) is by no means a new idea. However, although many teachers readily acknowledge educational benefits of ER (Krashen, 1993), in many schools, Extensive Reading is not practiced “extensively” or at all. If ER is good for language development, why aren’t all teachers using it? According to Day and Bamford (1998), one of the most important reasons is that many teachers believe that intensive reading alone will produce good, fluent readers. In intensive reading, students spend lots of time analyzing and dissecting short, difficult texts under the close supervision of the teacher. The aim of intensive reading is to help students construct detailed meaning from the text, to develop reading skills and to enhance vocabulary and grammar knowledge.
Extensive reading is a means of language development. Besides being a reading style for some researchers it is also an instructional approach to the learning and teaching of a second and foreign language reading (Day and Bamford, 1998)
Researchers of extensive reading programs are very positive about the role such an approach can play in both improving reading skills and developing learner language. In his book, The Power of Reading, Krashen emphasizes the role of extensive reading as follows “When [second language learners] read for pleasure, they can continue to improve in their second language without classes, without teachers, without studying and even without people to converse with.” (Krashen 1993, p. 84). They also claim a significant role for reading in the learning of a second language. Nuttall (1996, p.128) states, "The best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it”
Extensive reading programs encourage the reading of a wide variety of texts from a range of genre in the target language. It is important that the material read is within the student's level of comprehension and that students should be free to choose what to read. While Brown (1988) explains that extensive reading is carried out "to achieve a general understanding of a text.", Long and Richards (1987) identify extensive reading as "occurring when students read large amounts of high interesting material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, "reading for gist" and skipping unknown words." So the primary focus of extensive reading programs is on reading, so that while there may be follow-up activities or monitoring by the teacher these do not deter the student from wanting to read.
Reading materials utilized in an ER program can be graded readers or authentic texts. Graded readers are fiction and non-fiction books specially written for learners of English as a foreign or second language. They are graded into levels of language difficulty (e.g. Stage 1-6, stage 1 being the lowest level) by means of grammatical features, vocabulary, information load and cultural background. Authentic materials on the other hand are items such as newspapers, brochures, magazines, greeting cards, letters, mails and so on created for the general native speaking population. They have not been developed or adapted for second language learners but can be used to bring reality into the classroom and expose learners to a wide range of natural language use and cultural information.
Language learners, especially beginners, are recommended to work with easy reading materials suitable to their level since the hardness and complexity of authentic materials can deter learners from reading with pleasure which is a must in extensive reading.
1.2. Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the reading comprehension development of two groups of EFL learners one of which took part in an extensive reading program as an extra curriculum activity in addition to the traditional intensive reading classes. The other group took regular classes at school and didn’t follow such a program mentioned above outside school.
In our study long term reading comprehension development of the students was tried to increase via graded readers which are made easy to read by simplifying the vocabulary and grammar so the learners can easily understand the story and develop reading fluency and confidence.
It is important to note that the type of reading material used depends on the purpose of the reading. If the purpose is to improve fluency, confidence and so on, this will not easily be achieved with texts that are too difficult. Therefore “authentic” texts cannot be useful for fluency practice until the learner can read them fluently. These kinds of texts may be useful for intensive reading but will not suit to our learners.
1.3. Delimitations
Delimitations that may influence the findings of this study are as follows: The study was performed in two classes at Selcuk University, School of Foreign Languages. Average number of students in a class varied between 15 and 18. The study was carried out with two groups, each of which consisted of 15 attendants under the age of 20.
Limited range of the graded readers – the study was restricted to Oxford Graded Readers (black series) due to some reasons such as number of stages, number of titles, types of content and target readership. This series is divided into 6 levels so that the
readers can easily find a book suitable to their own level. The series has 83 titles (simplifications and simple originals) covering lots of various topics among which readers can choose a book to their reading taste; crime, science fiction, adventure, horror, romance, classic titles, true stories, factual information etc. The target readership of this series is adult and young adult learners which suits to the subject profile of the study. On the other hand these books were already available in the school library and rather than buying new books students were asked to borrow these books from the school library.
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1. Types of Reading: Intensive and Extensive Reading
In the general pedagogical sense, extensive reading means reading a large number of books written in the target language in order to gain a general understanding of what is read. It is intended to develop a liking for reading as well as to acquire the target language. A good example is the so-called "book flood" program conducted by Elley and Mangubhai (1981). Elley himself says:
In contrast to students learning by means of structured audio-lingual programs, those children who are exposed to an extensive range of high-interest illustrated story books, and encouraged to read and share them, are consistently found to learn the target language more quickly. (Elley 1991, p. 375)
In order for learners to comprehend and enjoy what is written, books should be easy enough for them to read with a certain speed without using a dictionary, because "comprehensible input is an essential environmental ingredient for language acquisition" (Krashen, 1993). Graded readers from Oxford, Penguin, Heinemann and other publishers are often used for this purpose. Pedagogical extensive reading is a step toward authentic reading outside of a class, which can involve texts from newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and books. On the contrary, intensive reading means reading at a slow speed for a higher degree of comprehension, looking up every unknown word, and analyzing sentence structures using grammar knowledge because, contrary to extensive reading, the materials used for intensive reading are usually above a reader's level of competence.
Extensive reading is said to be one of the most effective strategies in motivating L2 learners. Many writers have suggested the necessity of including both intensive and extensive reading in the foreign language curriculum (e.g., Carrell and Carson, 1997; Day and Bamford, 1998), and a large number of studies confirming the effectiveness of extensive reading in ESL and EEL contexts have been conducted (e.g., Cho and Krashen, 1994; Elley, 1991; Elley and Mangubhai, 1981; Hafiz and Tudor, 1989,1990;
Krashen,1982,1989; Lai, 1993; Mason and Krashen, 1997; Nash and Yun-Pi, 1992; Robb and Susser, 1989; Suzuki, 1996; Tudor and Hafiz, 1989). They have shown the effectiveness of extensive reading on learning attitudes, second language reading ability, linguistic competence, and writing for various types of learners.
Day and Bamford (1998), in their book Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom, stated that the term "extensive reading" was first applied in foreign language pedagogy by Harold Palmer. By extensive reading Palmer meant rapidly reading "book after book," which was contrasted with intensive reading, meaning studying a text "line by line" (Day and Bamford, 1998). In extensive reading, the reader's attention should be on the meaning, not on the formal aspects of the language, whereas in intensive reading, the reader's attention is focused on comparing, analyzing, translating, and retaining every expression (Palmer, 1921/1964). Palmer saw the importance of both reading strategies.
Although intensive reading has long been practiced in EFL contexts, the need for extensive reading has recently been emphasized in a number of articles (e.g., Davis, 1995; Eskey, 1987; Grabe, 1995; HilL 1997; Krashen, 1982; Mangubhai and Elley, 1982; Nuttall; 1996; Smith, 1997; Susser and Robb, 1990; Williams and Morgan, 1989). These researchers have asserted that extensive reading plays an important role in developing fluent second language readers, as learners are exposed to large quantities of written material and required to read them rapidly without stopping to use a dictionary. In addition to the above researchers, Smith (1997) has been known for his stance that extensive reading enables students to "learn to read by reading." Furthermore, Nuttall (1996) has stated that extensive reading programs constitute the most effective way for second language learners to improve both vocabulary and reading competence.
More importantly, gains in positive affect, as well as gains in reading proficiency, have been found in many studies (e.g., Cho and Krashen, 1994; Elley, 1991; Elley and Mangubhai, 1981; Hafiz and Tudor, 1989; Mason and Krashen, 1997; Nash and Yuan-Pi, 1992; Robb and Susser, 1989; Tudor and Hafiz, 1989). Elley and Mungubhai (1981) conducted a book flood program on primary school students in Fiji, and found gains in reading and general proficiency, including improvements in listening and writing in positive affect. Hafiz and Tudor (1989) conducted a study on male secondary school students in Pakistan, and found gains in fluency and accuracy of
expression. Tudor and Hafiz (1989) studied ESL students in the UK who took part in a three-month extensive reading program. Findings included gains in reading proficiency, general linguistic competence, and positive affect toward reading English books. Robb and Susser (1989) reported on positive affects and gains in reading proficiency of Japanese university students who had engaged in extensive reading. Elley (1991) found improvements in reading and listening comprehension, gains in attitudes toward reading and books, and positive affect toward English on primary school students on a South Pacific island of Niue, in Fiji, and in Singapore. Nash and Yuan-Pi (1992) found Taiwanese students' positive affects in participating in extensive reading program. Cho and Krashen (1994) reported on drastic attitudinal changes in four adult native speakers of Korean living in the United States that occurred after the participants had read books in the Sweet Valley series. They also found oral/aural language proficiency and vocabulary acquisition in addition to great enjoyment in reading light literature. Mason and Krashen (1997) studied Japanese university students engaging in extensive reading, and found gains in positive affect in addition to gains in reading proficiency. The studies mentioned above have shown how students became more eager readers in the second language after becoming involved in extensive reading.
2.2. Quotes Related to ER
Teaching reading to people who hate books is like teaching swimming to people who hate water
David Eskey, reading researcher
Reading is like an infectious disease: it is caught not taught.
Christine Nuttall, 1989, Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books, p. 192.
If the students stop reading when the reading class ends, the course has not achieved what such a course should achieve.
David Eskey 1986, p. 21, Teaching Second Language Reading for Academic Purposes, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. Arab Proverb
The person who doesn't read is no better off than the person who can't read. Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, p. 296
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.
Mark Twain, cited in Parenting’s Smart Starts 2000, p. 16, published by Parenting magazine
The truth of the matter is that about 99 percent of teaching is making the students feel interested in the material. Then the other 1 percent has to do with your methods. And that's not just true of languages. It's true of every subject.
Noam Chomsky, Language and Problems of Knowledge, 1988
All readers are good readers, when they have the right book.
Jeanne Henry, If Not Now: Developmental Readers in the College Classroom
Outside of a dog, a book is man's [a person's] best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read anyway.
Groucho Marx, U.S. comedienne from the first half of the 20th century
Asking low proficiency students to read authentic materials is like asking them to drink water from a high pressure fire hose.
Author unknown
If we teach a child to read, yet develop not the taste for reading, all our teaching is for naught. We shall have produced a nation of 'illiterates' -- who know how to read, but do not read. The major purpose for teaching children to read is to help them become readers who readily turn to books for information and enjoyment.
Charlotte Huck, 1973, Elementary School Language Arts, Rand McNally.
2.3. Characteristics of Extensive Reading
The goal of an extensive reading approach is to get students to enjoy reading in the English language. It is an approach that sees reading not only as translation or as a skill, but as an activity that someone chooses to do for a variety of personal, social, or academic reasons. The following is a list of characteristics of successful extensive reading programs (Day and Bamford 1998:7–8);
1. The reading material is easy.
2. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available. 3. Learners choose what they want to read.
4. Learners read as much as possible.
5. The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding 6. Reading is its own reward.
7. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. 8. Reading is individual and silent.
9. Teachers orient and guide their students. 10. The teacher is a role model of a reader.
The reading material is easy. For extensive reading to be possible and to have
the desired results, texts must be well within the learners' reading competence in the foreign language. For beginners, more than one or two unknown words per page and for intermediate learners, more than five difficult words per page might make the text too difficult for overall understanding. Hu and Nation (2000) suggest that learners must know at least 98% of the words in a fiction text for unassisted understanding. In discussing first language reading development, Fry (1991) observes that "Beginning readers do better with easier materials". This is all the more true with extensive reading because learners read independently, without the help of a teacher. Students must read
texts that reflect their language ability -- texts they find easy and enjoyable-- to be motivated to read more and study more.
A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available. The
success of extensive reading depends largely on stimulating students to read. Books, magazines, newspapers, fiction, non-fiction, texts that inform, texts that entertain, general, specialized, light, serious. To find out what your students are interested in reading, follow Williams' (1986) advice: "Ask them what they like reading in their own language, peer over their shoulders in the library, ask the school librarian...” Different kinds of reading materials not only encourage reading, they also encourage a flexible approach to reading.
Learners choose what they want to read. The principle of freedom of choice
means that learners can select texts as they do in their own language, that is, they can choose texts they expect to understand, to enjoy or to learn from. Learners must be free to stop reading anything they find to be too difficult, or that turns out not to be of interest. What Henry (1995) noticed about her L1 non-reading undergraduates is no less true in foreign language reading: "my students needed to read for themselves, not for me". For students used to working with textbooks and teacher-selected texts, the freedom to choose reading material (and freedom to stop reading) may be a crucial step in experiencing foreign language reading as something personal. Samuels (1991), in discussing first language reading, claims that unless the teacher is phased out and the learner is phased in, many of students will fail to become independent because throughout their education they were always placed in a dependent role -- dependent on the teacher.
Learners read as much as possible. The most critical element in learning to read
is the amount of time spent actually on reading. While most reading teachers agree with this, it may be the case that their students are not being given the opportunity or incentive to read, read, and read some more. There is no upper limit to the amount of reading that can be done, but a book a week is probably the minimum amount of reading necessary to achieve the benefits of extensive reading and to establish a reading habit. This is a realistic target for learners of all proficiency levels, as books written for beginners and low-intermediate learners are very short.
The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding. In an extensive reading approach, learners are encouraged to read for
the same kinds of reasons and in the same way as the general population of first-language readers. This sets extensive reading apart from usual classroom practice on the one hand, and reading for academic purposes on the other. One hundred percent comprehension, indeed, any particular objective level of comprehension, is not a goal. In terms of reading outcomes, the focus shifts away from comprehension achieved or knowledge gained towards the reader's personal experience. A reader's interaction with a text derives from the purpose for reading. In extensive reading, the learner's goal is sufficient understanding to fulfill a particular reading purpose, for example, the obtaining of information, the enjoyment of a story, or the passing of time.
Reading is its own reward. The learners' experience of reading the text is at the
center of the extensive reading experience, just as it is in reading in everyday life. For this reason, extensive reading is not usually followed by comprehension questions. It is an experience complete in itself. At the same time, teachers may ask students to complete follow-up activities based on their reading. The reasons for this are various: to find out what the student understood and experienced from the reading; to monitor students' attitudes toward reading; to keep track of what and how much students read; to make reading a shared experience; to link reading to other aspects of the curriculum. For such reasons, students may be asked to do such things as writing about their favorite characters, writing about the best or worst book they have read, or doing a dramatic reading of an exciting part of a novel. Such activities, while respecting the integrity of students' reading experiences, extend them in interesting and useful ways.
Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. When learners are reading
material that is well within their linguistic ability, for personal interest, and for general rather than academic purposes, it is an incentive to reading fluency. Nuttall (1996) notes that "speed, enjoyment and comprehension are closely linked with one another" She describes:
The vicious circle of the weak reader: Reads slowly; doesn’t enjoy reading; doesn’t read much; doesn’t understand; reads slowly. . ." and so on. Extensive reading can help readers "enter instead the cycle of growth. . . . The virtuous circle of the good reader: Reads faster; Reads more; Understands better; Enjoys reading; Reads faster… (Nuttall, 1996)
In the process of reading fluency, students are supposed to avoid using dictionaries when they come across words they don't understand. Extensive reading is a chance to keep reading, and thus to practice such strategies as guessing at or ignoring unknown words or passages, going for the general meaning, and being comfortable with a certain level of ambiguity.
Reading is individual and silent. Silent, individual extensive reading contrasts
with the way classroom texts are used as vehicles for teaching language or reading strategies or translated or read aloud. It allows students to discover that reading is a personal interaction with the text, and an experience that they have responsibility for. Extensive reading means learners reading at their own paces. It can be done both in the students' own time when and where the student chooses, or inside the classroom when part or all of a classroom period is set aside for silent, self-selected reading. In the latter case, teachers may witness, as Henry (1995) describes it, "the most beautiful silence on earth, that of students engrossed in their reading"
Teachers orient and guide their students. As an approach to teaching reading,
extensive reading is very different from usual classroom practice. Students need careful introduction to extensive reading. Teachers can explain that reading extensively leads not only to gains in reading proficiency but also to overall gains in language learning. The methodology of extensive reading can be introduced, beginning with choice: students’ choosing what to read is an essential part of the approach. Teachers can reassure students that a general understanding of what they read is appropriate for most reading purposes. It can be emphasized that there will be no test after reading. Instead, teachers are interested in the student's own personal experience of what was read -- for example, was it enjoyable or interesting, and why? Guidance throughout the extensive reading experience is also needed. Teachers can keep track of what and how much each student reads, and their students' reactions to what was read. Based on this information, teachers can encourage students to read as widely as possible and, as their language ability, reading ability and confidence increase, to read at progressively higher levels of difficulty.
The teacher is a role model of a reader. Nuttall famously said, "reading is
caught, not taught" (1996: 229). Maley explains the implications of this for teachers, "We need to realize how much influence we have on our students. Students do not just
(or even) learn the subject matter we teach them; they learn their teachers. Teacher attitude, more than technical expertise, is what they will recall when they leave us" (1999:7). In short, effective extensive reading teachers are themselves readers, teaching by example the attitudes and behaviors of a reader. In Henry's words, teachers are "selling reading" (1995: 52), and the primary way to do that is to be a reader. Further, in Henry's opinion, teachers of extensive reading have to commit to reading what their students do (1995: 52). She explains, "By reading what my students read, I become a part of the community that forms within the class" (p. 53). When students and teachers share reading, the foreign language reading classroom can be a place where teachers discuss books with students and answer their questions. It can be a place where students and teachers experience together the value and pleasure to be found in the written world.
2.4. How Much to Read
One of the issues on which there is no consensus among educators concerning extensive reading is how much reading must be done before it can be called extensive. Based on previous research, Susser and Robb (1990) mention seventeen measures that show the variety of criteria cited by researchers related to extensive reading. These measures include "thirty pages an hour . . ., three pages an hour . . ., an hour per evening . . ., five hours by a specified date . . ., one page per day . . ., thirty minutes per day . . ., a chapter per week . . ., one reader per week . . ., at least two books a week . . ., 60 hours over three months . . .," (p. 165-166). This indicates that while quantity is essential in extensive reading, researchers vary in the measurement of "extensive." This variety suggests that quantity of reading is not an absolute number of hours or pages but depends on teacher and student perceptions of how extensive reading differs from other reading classes; this will vary according to type of program, level, and other variables. (Susser and Rob, 1990: 166).Thus, the notion "extensive" is a relative concept defined variously by different educators.
Another issue that seems uncertain and that research has not fully described is the aspect of pleasure. Susser and Robb (1990) believe that since some of the readings might be assigned, there may be no pleasure in completing them. They explain, however, that pleasure is
something relative. The assumption is that learners will enjoy reading books that they select themselves on topics and areas of interest to them more than they will enjoy assigned readings required by their instructor.
2.5. Reading Materials
The success of ER depends largely on making right choices about reading materials. In this regard teachers need to have considerable knowledge of books and other reading materials that appeal to students. In the selection of materials, both student interest and reading proficiency need to be taken into account. To ensure that students find pleasure in reading, they need to read materials that appeal to their various interests and materials that they can read comfortably without having to struggle for the meaning. Reading materials that can be used in an extensive reading program can be divided into two groups; authentic and simplified.
2.5.1. Authentic Materials
In a general sense “authentic text” refers to a text which is written by native speakers for native speakers (Day and Bamford 2000; Krashen, 1993). In other words, “authentic texts” are materials not written especially for language learners.
Research studies on the use of authentic materials have proved that there is an overall increase in motivation to learn, a more positive attitude towards learning, as well as increased involvement and interest in the subject matter. Authentic materials are perceived by the learners as useful, lifelike, and interesting. Some educators concerned with extensive reading believe in the necessity of the use of authentic texts for several reasons. Haverson claims that simplified materials are inferior as models of language and lack important cues for interpretation present in most authentic texts (Harverson, 1991). Day and Bamford indicate that authentic texts are used in language teaching "because they are considered interesting, engaging, culturally enlightening, relevant, motivating, and the best preparation for reading authentic texts" (p. 54). In addition, Williams (1989)argues, "if the learner is expected eventually to cope with real language outside the classroom, then surely the best way to prepare for this is by looking at real language inside the classroom" (cited in Day and Bamford, 1998.)
Another reason for the advocacy of authentic materials is that they are genuine discourse. As Nuttall (1996) indicates, authentic materials "exhibit the characteristics of true discourse: having something to say, being coherent and clearly organized" (p. 177). Regarding this notion, after he examined the process of developing simplified reading
material, Day (1998) concluded that they have a number of strengths that are critical in teaching beginning and intermediate students how to read in a foreign language, but often such simplified material is not normal discourse (text written for communication), and, as a result, is not appropriate material for learning to read. Guariento and Moley (2001) suggest that authentic materials should be used in accordance with students' ability and adds that suitable tasks can be given to learners in which total understanding is not important.
On the other hand, authentic materials are usually thought to be discouraging and difficult to read for language learners and thus such materials are considered not useful rather than useful for those learners. Day (1998) argues that using authentic texts with beginning and intermediate students can impede foreign language reading development. The reason is that authentic texts are often too difficult.
Authentic material is often rejected by both teachers and learners as being too difficult. Certainly, it will involve more preparatory work for the students. Authentic materials do not easily fit with the standard types of comprehension-testing exercises found in general course books. The treatment of the text and design of related activities has to be more imaginative for the reading to have validity.
While choosing the materials the most important factor is the level of the language used in the materials. These materials are taken from real life and not adapted for the specific purpose of teaching a language in a classroom. The material has to be comprehensible to the students. At the same time it should be challenging enough to sustain their motivation. So materials which are at the level of difficulty of the students or slightly above the students' present level should be selected. if it is too below their level, they may not learn much from it and if it is too above their level they will not be able to understand and interact with the materials. If the text contains too many colloquialisms, metaphors, symbols, hidden or double meanings, or idioms, it should be used only with advanced learners and not beginners.
Richards (2001, p. 253) points out that difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures that authentic materials often contain cause a burden for the teacher in lower-level classes. Martinez (2002) mentions that authentic materials may be too culturally biased and too many structures are mixed, causing lower
levels have a hard time decoding the texts. At lower levels simple materials would be easy to use for students until they master the reading skills at advanced levels. Guariento and Morley (2001) claim that at post-intermediate level the use of authentic materials is available for use in classroom. This is because at this level, most students master a wide range of vocabulary in the target language and all of the structures. They also note that at lower levels, the use of authentic materials may cause students to feel de-motivated and frustrated since they lack many lexical items and structures used in the target language.
2.5.2. Simplified materials
Simplified materials are texts written originally for second language learners. Here the texts are written in a simple way in terms of vocabulary and structure according to students' linguistic levels.
Generally, these simplified materials are controlled for vocabulary difficulty, grammatical structure, sentence length and complexity, and information density. Hill and Thomas (1988) point out: "the vocabulary must be ninety percent within learners' understanding, the syntax and sentence structure must be familiar, the information must not be too dense, and the meaning must be made explicit, especially at the lower levels" (p.4 6). The assumption is that such materials will allow learners to read easily without struggling to get the general meaning of what they read.
Coady (1997) writes that the task of acquiring the language is generally eased by eliminating the burden of recognizing too many different word forms. In an effort to produce comprehensible material, hundreds of simplified versions of texts have been produced, usually by eliminating all words above a certain level of difficulty as determined by a list of the frequency with which words occur in the language in general (p. 230)
Fry (1991) observes that beginning readers do better with easier materials. "Doing better" means that comprehension of materials will be better, reading lessons will be more successful, and pleasure will be greater if there is at least a rough match between the reader's ability and the difficulty of the reading material. Plenty of evidence
is available to show that unless motivation is extremely high, the too-difficult material will cause a loss of comprehension and an inclination to stop reading (p. 8).
These materials are used in extensive reading because of the claim that they are easy to read and provide comprehensible input for learners. It is assumed that reading easy texts at a comfortable level will be faster, yield greater enjoyment (Schmidt 2000), and encourage good reading habits (Nuttall, 1996) . Easy material means texts with grammar and vocabulary appropriate to the students' linguistic competence (Day and Bamford 1998). When students find no more than one or two difficult words on a page, the text is easy (Day and Bamford, 2000), and, in turn, the quantity of reading will increase (Cho and Krashen, 1994). Nuttall (1996) indicates that graded readers are useful for language learners who are not ready to deal with authentic texts.
Nation and Deweerdt (2001) draw attention to the importance of reading in language learning programs:
… readers are an essential part of a language learning program if learners of all proficiency levels are to have the opportunity to do incidental language learning through reading. Unsimplified texts do not allow for this kind of learning at beginning and intermediate levels because they contain too great a density of unknown words and too many different unknown words … (Nation and Deweerdt 2001, p. 55)
Problems with simplified materials: Simplified reading materials have also been criticized by some educators concerned with extensive reading. As Day and Bamford (1998) explain, criticisms of simplified materials are justified, for they can be poorly written, uninteresting, and hard to read, and can lack normal text features such as redundancy and cohesion. Many of these shortcomings can be traced to two sources, one to do with language and the other content (p. 57)
Language materials are adapted or written according to linguistic procedures based on list of words and grammar patterns assumed to be familiar to second language learners. The problem here is that authors who work on developing such materials tend to focus their attention on words and structures instead of discourse. Many of these materials, therefore, are written in poor English or are empty of content. In fact, the process of simplification often produces reading materials that are more difficult to understand than the original, because of the impairment of cohesion, coherence, and discourse (Susser and Robb, 1990). Vocabulary control, in particular, has created a
major problem. That is, graded reading materials are written using a very limited vocabulary. Publishers use word lists to develop these simplified materials. One of these lists is what is known as a General Service List of English Words (West, 1953), which consists of the most frequent 2,000 base words. This process of reducing vocabulary words used in simplified materials tends to result in overly simple language.
Thus, simplicity of language in these materials can lead to negative effects on learners' performance. For instance, Tudor and Hafiz (1989) indicate that their second language subjects produced simple sentences which lacked syntactic complexity after being exposed to such simplified reading materials. Tudor and Hafiz attributed learners' poor performance in writing to the language forms of the simplified texts they read.
Since the process of simplifying reading materials involves modifying and rewriting, "it tends to eliminate much of the normal syntactic and pragmatic usage of an ordinary text as well as its frequent vocabulary" (Coady 1997, p. 231). Rivers (1968) indicates that the system of graded readers, while valuable from the pedagogical point of view, gave a false impression of the level of reading achieved. It is very doubtful whether students were able to read ungraded material with ease and direct comprehension at the end of the course. As soon as they encountered ungraded material they were forced back into deciphering with the aid of a dictionary, and valuable training in the reading skill was wasted (p. 24).
Therefore, some educators discourage the use of simplified texts, claiming they are inferior as models of language (Haverson, 1991) and consequently they are considered not to be a useful preparation for students learning to read in the real world (Honeyfield, 1977).
Christine Nuttall writes, “However good a simplification is, something is always lost; this is why some teachers refuse to use simplified versions" (1996, p. 178). Francoise Grellet advises, "It is important to use authentic texts wherever possible." (1981, p. 7). Vincent (1986, p. 212) observes, "Too many graded readers are pale imitations of original writing, in thin, stilted language, lacking all the linguistic, emotional, and aesthetic qualities that characterize real literature.”
Simplified and authentic materials therefore have a significant role in the development of the reading skills of language learners when they are used at a suitable level. Authentic materials are preferable to other types of materials in teaching foreign language reading. Using authentic texts with beginning and intermediate students can impede foreign language reading development. The reason is that authentic texts are often too difficult. Simplified reading material have a number of strengths that are critical in teaching beginning and intermediate students how to read in a foreign language, but often such simplified material is not normal discourse (text written for communication), and, as a result, is not appropriate material for learning to read.
2.6. Graded Readers
It is accepted by many teachers that graded readers are simplified books written at varying levels of difficulty for second language learners and that graded readers cover a huge range of genres ranging from adaptations of classic works of literature to original stories, to factual materials such as biographies, reports and so on. Teachers are also aware that graded readers are written for many different audiences, ages and difficulty levels. However, not all teachers have a clear idea of their function and how they fit the curriculum.
2.6.1 What are graded readers?
Graded readers are basically simplified materials which are either texts simplified and adapted from first language originals or original texts written for second language learners (Day and Bamford, 1998). These simplified materials can be graded according to the language in use — higher frequency vocabulary, simplified phrasing and sentence structure, and the use of illustrations (Waring, 2000). The graded system provides a convenient criterion by which teachers can choose materials suitable for their students’ proficiency levels. Readers can move to a higher level stage by stage as their reading fluency develops; they can also move from higher level to lower level whenever they feel like it
Nation (2001) suggests that any language programme needs to ensure that the learners get an adequate balance between input and output practice, and an appropriate balance of a focus on mastering accuracy within the language and a focus on building
automaticity and fluency. These four elements of input and output practice, and accuracy and fluency, should also cover all the language skills of reading writing, listening and speaking. Reading graded readers and doing extensive listening are examples of meaning focused input activities where working with the message is more important than attending to new language. It is this last element – meaning based fluency input practice - which is most commonly absent from many language programmes.
One of the main functions of graded readers is to create a series of stepping stones for foreign language learners to eventually read unsimplified materials. It is fairly obvious that beginners cannot read unsimplified material enjoyably because of its difficulty, and in order to get the learners to the level where they are able to read unsimplified texts, they need to be stepped through materials of increasing levels of difficulty until they reach that point. At the early stages of reading in a foreign language the learners would read graded readers that contain a very limited vocabulary of say 300 different word families and with the easiest and simplest grammatical constructions and a simple plot. As the learners become fluent and confident at reading graded readers at this level, they progress to books which have a more difficult vocabulary, grammar and plot and fewer illustrations, and so on until they can feel they are able to tackle unsimplified texts.
2.6.2. Types of graded reader
There are several kinds of graded reader. Some are adaptations (the story is changed and simplified for a different audience) or abridgements (keeping the main story but changing difficult grammar and vocabulary) of classic literature such as Dracula, The Pearl, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice and so on. Others are called originals which are mostly fictional stories. Another kind of graded reader has a basis in fact and are in effect reports. These may include biographies, environmental reports, festivals, reports on countries or companies, historical events and so on like those in the Oxford University Press Factfiles Series.
The major difference between EFL reading materials for children and the L1 children’s reading materials is that children starting to read their first language already have knowledge of several thousand words before they begin to read. So when they
learn to read they only have to match the written form with an already known meaning and pronunciation. Moreover, their knowledge of such a large number of words enables them to guess unknown words from context more successfully. By contrast, second language learners do not have such a store of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge to call upon. Thus their reading is characterized more often by learning both form and meaning.
2.6.3. How to use Graded Readers
Graded readers can be used in several different ways. The first approach to using graded readers is to use them to practice the skill of fast fluent reading. This approach is often called Extensive Reading or graded reading. Graded readers are mostly used for the practice of fluent reading with the linguistic aims of practicing the skill of reading, building word recognition automaticity, and focusing the learners on the message rather than the language as well as a whole host of other factors (Bamford, 1998, p. 7-8 or Waring, 2000). In Extensive Reading, the learners generally select their own texts at their own ability level and read at their own pace.
The second approach by contrast, is to use graded readers in a language and focus on form approach to reading activities. This is often called Intensive Reading. It is one which often involves many pre- and post-reading activities such as the completion of comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, and so on. The aim is to dig into the text to pull out grammar, vocabulary, discourse features and son on and expand and explain the plot.
The third approach lies somewhere between the Intensive and Extensive reading approaches and can be labeled the ‘Class Reader’ approach. In both the Intensive Reading and Class Reader approaches all the learners use the same text and work on it together. The difference is that in the Class Reader approach the focus is often on the story or plot, characterization and tends to see the work as a piece of literature than as a tool for practising language. The aim of the Class Reader approach is for the learners to read the same text and complete many language-focused and comprehension check activities together often over several lessons. In a Class Reader approach, the class will finish the book, but in an Intensive Reading approach they may not. In addition to these three approaches, the Reading Skills approach focuses on the building of discrete
reading skills such as learning to scan and skim, and learning how to deal with unknown words and so on. Graded Readers can be used as source texts for all of these approaches to reading.
Learners read graded readers for different purposes. They can read easy material to improve their reading speed and fluency, or they can read at a level where a few words are unknown which allows for the picking up of some of these words. Alternatively, they can read a more difficult graded reader with more unknown vocabulary, patterns and grammar and read it to learn language rather than to enjoy the story and build fluency as in the Class Reader approach. We can thus see that the same graded reader can be read by 3 different learners of different abilities but for very different purposes. Clearly a learner who finds a text too difficult will not be able to read it smoothly and develop fluency with it while another learner who finds the text very easy will not meet many new words to learn.
2.6.4. Some Objections to Graded Readers
Many language teachers say that the best way to learn to read is by reading a lot, just as they would say for speaking, listening and writing. However, in practice most teachers do not often recommend their learners to read a lot. Moreover, the main form of reading practice in EFL classrooms involves comprehension questions and language analysis in the form of intensive reading activities.
In the EFL world teachers see graded readers as an ‘extra’ or ‘supplemental’ way of getting extra input outside the classroom, or more correctly outside the textbook. Moreover, many teachers see fluent reading practice as so ‘supplemental’, they do not recommend any at all. Worse still, in many language institutions around the world there is a complete absence of graded reading materials despite an understanding of their usefulness.
A very common objection to the use of graded readers is that they are not ‘authentic’ (e.g. Honeyfield, 1977). Supporters of this notion suggest that learners should read authentic literature because then they can appreciate the beauty of the language and more directly access the ideas the writer is trying to convey. Moreover, they suggest that graded readers do not faithfully represent the language naturally and
deny the learner the opportunity to meet ‘natural language’. There is no question that a simplified Jane Eyre is not the same as the original, but it was never intended to be. The call for authenticity argument misses several important points. Firstly, the definition of ‘authentic’ means ‘written for an intended audience’ and by virtue of this definition graded readers, which are written especially for second language learners, are therefore ‘authentic’ in and of themselves. Widdowson (1976) has shown that authenticity is a result of the relationship between the reader and the text, not of the text itself. He also points out that it is “impossible” for unsimplified text to be authentic in a second language context simply because the learners are outside the community for which the text was intended (Widdowson 1998: 711). He therefore advocates that authentic text has no place in the language classroom as it will never be authentic. Rather he suggests that appropriate texts be selected for learners, not simply authentic ones.
One of the most common objections to graded readers refers to the quality of the adaptation or simplification process. Some researchers (e.g. Honeyfield, 1977; Yano, Long and Ross, 1994; Young, 1999) suggest that certain types of simplification can hinder rather than enhance comprehension. They suggest that learners read unsimplified level material so they will get massive exposure to new words and new language and thus pick them up incidentally. Furthermore, they say that graded readers which have relatively few unknown words reduces the opportunities learners have for practicing guessing from context. It is fairly obvious that learners whose L1 and L2 share many similarities (such as Italian and Spanish) may be able to pick up a large vocabulary quite quickly, but this is not the case for languages which are quite different, such as English and Japanese.
Another objection is the vocabulary coverage. Hu and Nation (2000) point out that where there is more than one unknown word in 50 the chance that the learners will be able to guess the unknown word is, at best, minimal. Native level materials are full of known words for intermediate and lower learners. Often as much as 5% of unsimplified texts is made up of words which appear only once (Nation 2001) which provide a formidable stream of interruptions to fluent reading for second language learners. Thus unsimplified texts can appear to be nothing but demotivating language tools
Yano, Long and Ross (1994) suggest that graded readers cause problems for learners because they inhibit comprehension thus providing poor conditions for
learning. Their concern is that the sentences in graded readers are short and rely too much on cohesive for progression within the stories which make them difficult to comprehend. Certainly in the past some graded readers were poorly written, especially those that over-emphasized structural elements over storyline and interest, but this is no longer true for hundreds of graded readers currently available to learners.
Although it is not a direct objection against graded readers, some teachers seem quite happy to ignore graded readers completely. Other teachers are aware of the benefit of graded readers but see them as a ‘supplemental’ (‘nice but not necessary – read them if you have time’) role. Worse still is the advice to lower ability learners to ‘just read this (unsimplified) novel or newspaper and you will soon learn to read’. Learners simply cannot deal with unsimplified input competently and confidently in a native-like manner until they are way passed advanced level. No one would expect a child to read and understand an adult novel so there is no reason to suspect that all language learners regardless of ability can read and understand unsimplified text and enjoy it.
CHAPTER 3
METHODS AND PROCEDURES 3.1. Introduction
The present study investigates the effects of extensive reading on reading development of SOFL students in English as a second language. This chapter explains the methods and the procedures used in this study. The chapter will first list the research questions and then it will describe the population and the instruments used to collect data. Finally, it will present detailed information on the procedures followed for data collection and data analysis.
3.2. Research Questions
The research questions related to the study are as follows;
1. Does extensive reading have an effect on the reading development of the students volunteered to read extensively? That is, is there a significant difference between the reading comprehension scores of students participated in experimental group and of those participated in control group?
2. Are there significant differences among the reading comprehension scores of the students in experimental group according to the number of the books read by each student?
3.3. Participants
This study took place during the period of January / May 2004 at School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) at Selcuk University. At SOFL, students take a standardized placement test and are placed at proficiency levels based on their performance on this test. The placement test consists of 100 multiple-choice questions and students who score over 60 continue their graduate studies at the University and the others who score under 60 have to take one-year preparatory English education. At SOFL there are two proficiency levels; Level A and Level B. Students scored between 30 and 60 are involved in Level A classes and students with a score under 30 are involved in Level B classes. Each class consists of 15-20 students.
Students at SOFL have 5 English classes everyday and total 25 classes a week. Every class has two teachers who teach alternately along the week days. The course book the students of SOFL follow is Pathfinder. Pathfinder consists of four series and Level B students have to complete successively the first 3 books of the series by the end of the year. Students have four mid-term exams and a final exam throughout year. In addition to these major exams they also have quizzes on the last day of the week.
The number of students who participated in this study is 30 and they all continued Level B classes at SOFL. Being at the same proficiency level-that is elementary- the subjects of the study can be described as homogeneous. 22 of the participants were male and 8 were female students. The age of the students varies between 18 and 21. The study was performed with two groups; control group and experimental group. In both groups 15 students took part. All the girls who volunteered to read extensively participated in the experimental group. The students in control group would follow a reading program limited to the reading sections of the course book, Pathfinder. In other words the reading program they were exposed to was mainly intensive. On the other hand students in experimental group would be supplemented with an extensive reading program that was performed outside the school curriculum.
3.4. SOFL Proficiency and Placement Test
Before they continue their graduate studies, new students of Selcuk University have to take the English proficiency test performed by School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) If their department calls for. This proficiency test consists of 100 multiple-choice questions and it has two sections; Structure and Reading. The former contains 75 multiple-choice questions, while the latter contains 25 multiple-choice questions. The reading test measures student's ability to comprehend short reading passages and to find the correct answer out of four alternatives. The second section is a test of grammatical structure and involves a range of those structures found in course books and examinations at an elementary to intermediate levels. Students capable of scoring 60 and over 60 continue their graduate studies but if they score under 60 they have to attend one-year EFL program at SOFL. For these students SOFL uses a standardized test to place them according to their proficiency levels. This placement is designed to display whether a student is of elementary level or high-elementary level. Elementary students attend Level B classes while high-elementary students attend Level A classes. The students with higher levels are not involved in this placement test since they are qualified in the Proficiency test that takes place before the placement test.
3.5. Materials
The materials that can be used in an extensive reading program can be classified into two groups: authentic materials and simplified materials. In the present study graded readers that obviously stand out among the simplified materials were used to show the differences between the reading skills of experimental group and control group. Oxford Graded Readers that were utilized in this study comprise a number of series such as Hotshots, Bookworm Series and Oxford Progressive English Readers. As the Bookworms are designed primarily for extensive reading and it is aimed to establish a unity in the study these readers were preferred by the researcher. This series is divided into six levels (Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3…etc) categorized by the number of headwords. The headwords at each stage are 400, 700, 1000, 1400, 1800 and 2500. The core structures used in graded readers follow a similar syllabus to that found in the majority of EFL course books. So these structures probably provide the easiest means to begin selecting readers appropriate to a student's level of English. (see the Bookworm Syllabus). In addition to core structures, discourse and textual cohesion are also
controlled, as is plot development; when reading in a foreign language it is important that students are not confused by too much information at one time, too many minor characters or peculiarities in chronology.
Figure 3.1.
Oxford Bookworm Syllabus
present simple present continuous, imperative,
can/cannot, must going to
(future), simple gerunds, past simple
STAGE 1 400
HEADWORDS
present perfect, will (future),
(don’t) have to, must not, could comparison of adjectives
simple time clauses past continuous tag questions ask/tell + infinitive STAGE 2 700 HEADWORDS should, may
present perfect continuous
used to past perfect causative relative clauses indirect statements STAGE 3 1000 HEADWORDS
* Core structures and the number of headwords for each stage of the syllabus.
The Bookworm Series had a wide range of titles among which students could choose the suitable one according to their own reading taste and interest. Every student in experimental group had three readers; one from stage 1 and two from stage 2. Students possessed 45 readers and additionally there were 15 more readers available for them to exchange at the end of every two weeks. On average, readers had 60-70 pages and on some pages there were drawings which illustrated the significant events in the story. At the end of the reading section, there were reading activities such as pre-reading, while reading and after reading questions. Books had a glossary of important words whose meaning would probably not be inferred through reading. As stated above
every stage had a controlled vocabulary and structure so that reader of the book had no difficulty selecting the right book. A short summary on the back cover of the book helps the reader see and learn about the contents of the book.
Students in the study did not read any graded readers during the first term. The reading program in which they were involved in was limited to intensive one. They just attended their regular classes at SOFL and they were taught through the course book, Pathfinder. Pathfinder is a five-level course book. At SOFL, students of Level A and Level B have different language programs, Level A students started with Pathfinder Pre-intermediate and throughout the year they completed the next two series, Intermediate and Upper-intermediate. On the other hand, Level B students got their start with Pathfinder Elementary and continued with the following two levels, Pre-intermediate and Intermediate. While the first and the second level of Pathfinder are organized into sixteen topic-based units, the subsequent levels are organized into eight units. Topics are related to the students’ own world like adventure holidays, romance, studying abroad… etc., to general knowledge themes like science, business, arts…etc. and to cultural points like the education system in Britain, Hollywood, Australian Society …etc.
Skills development throughout the five levels of Pathfinder is systematic and all important areas of each skill are covered. Since the subject of this study is restricted to the development of reading skills, only the way that this course book handled reading skills will be investigated. There is plenty of reading in Pathfinder. Each unit has one main reading focus lesson and there are also short reading texts in the Grammar Focus lessons. Most of the Writing Workshops of which objective are to improve gradually the writing skills of students have model texts and extra reading practice is provided in the Culture Corner and Literature Spot sections.
There is a wide variety of different text types; biography, extracts, newspaper stories, magazine articles and interviews, novel extracts, websites, questionnaires, advertisements, letters, reports, brochures and leaflets.
There is also a varied selection of reading task types; checking predictions, responding to open answer questions, true/false questions, multiple-choice questions, “who said what” questions, matching headings or topics with paragraphs, sequencing
